NONFICTION REVIEW

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, November 8, 2008

Most Americans know that pizza comes from Italy, that fireworks were invented in China and that salsa - the condiment and the dance - can be traced to Latin America. We know the foreign roots of these American favorites. But what about the ice cream cone, the blues, the name "California"? It may surprise some to learn that all three of these derive, in some way or another, from the Arab and Islamic world.

In "Al' America," Jonathan Curiel, a Chronicle reporter and former Fulbright scholar to Pakistan, explores the untold story of America's Arab and Islamic roots. Written in energetic prose, with a tenacity hold on the facts and a sharp eye for cultural resonance, "Al' America" uncovers Arab and Muslim influence in everything from Elvis and Emerson to surf music and the Alamo.

Curiel unwinds the tangle of influence that makes up American culture, separating out a few of the more interesting strands and follows them back to their roots in the Arab and Islamic world. In his chapter on the Alamo, he weaves together Columbus' voyage across the Atlantic, Muslim rule in Spain and the abiding influence of Arab architectural forms there. Then he traces that thread back across the water to New Orleans' French Quarter and the Alamo, both of which exhibit a strong connection to the Arab architectural forms that took root in Spain centuries earlier.

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Even though the Muslims were expelled from Spain in 1609 and forbidden from traveling to the New World, Curiel writes, "Arab and Islamic culture was still transported across the Atlantic. It took root here just as it had taken root in Cordoba, Cadiz, and other Spanish cities that Columbus traversed before he set off on his epic voyage to the shores of America."

But the evidence of Arab and Islamic influence can be found in more than old buildings. In subsequent chapters, Curiel traces the evolution of the blues in part back to the pious quarter tones of Muslim slaves from West Africa. He unearths the influence of Arab and Muslim philosopher-poets such as Rumi, Saadi and Khalil Gibran on Emerson, Thoreau and Elvis. He recounts the remarkable story of how the ice cream cone, that most American of confections, was invented by two Syrian immigrants at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. And in a fascinating chapter on language, Curiel traces a host of common English words - for instance, syrup, orange, mocha, magazine, elixir and chess - back to Arabic. Even the name of our fair state comes, very circuitously, from the Arabic world for ruler, caliph.

It is difficult to argue against the significance of Thoreau, ice cream and the blues. But occasionally, Curiel veers off on somewhat irrelevant tangents. One cannot help but question the cultural and historical significance of the colossal arabesque mansion called Iranistan that P.T. Barnum built with profits gained in part from his world tour with Tiny Tim.

And, although he takes a number of writers to task for their ignorance of Arab and Islamic history, Curiel makes a few historical slips himself. In a paragraph on the martyrdom of Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, he confuses Hussein and Ali, a mix-up akin to confusing Abraham and Isaac. And in a reference to the FBI's surveillance of Elijah Muhammad, Curiel seems to conflate, as J. Edgar Hoover did, the Nation of Islam and Islam.

But in spite of a few missteps, "Al' America" is an important, well-researched and highly readable book. It brings to light an untold history that, as Curiel writes, "had been hidden away before now - scattered in obscure academic tomes and dusty library books." Taken individually, the story of the Alamo's Arab roots, Saadi's influence on Emerson, or the invention of the ice cream cone would be interesting, but inconsequential. Gathered in a single book, the essays make a compelling argument that, over the course of American history, Arab and Islamic culture "has embedded itself into the very soul of this country." As Curiel writes, "even in the aftermath of an apocalyptic tragedy like 9/11 - people divided by borders, language, and apparent differences eventually understand they have more in common than they ever, ever realized."

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